So this past week I've been furiously writing book two of The Mindwars. It's great to get back in the groove and see where Whizzbang, Bosk and the other characters take me.....you'd be surprised just how much an author wants to read their own book!

I've now written around twenty thousand words but more importantly the book's plot is now largely mapped out. Like Battleframe, book two has a few twists in it and some of the largest space battles I think that I've ever read....really awesome stuff!

One of the great things is that the characters are really coming into their own. There's a real sense of love between them and fun in the midst of a lot of terror.

For those of you that are wondering......it looks like the opening chapter will help explain a lot where Wisdom, Creativity and Intellect have come from and why they are doing what they are doing. It will also provide an introduction to the ultimate enemy.

The one thing to not forget is that back on Alpha Three the characters are bracing for a second wave of Scourge....let me say that this comes in a very different form.

The other day I received my first royalty check from Amazon! I’m not about to retire but I must admit that it felt incredible to be receiving money for selling copies of my scifi book Battleframe. I normally get packing slips from Amazon so to receive a cheque was a new experience.

So what’s happening with Battleframe? One of the difficulties that I’ve been trying to wrestle with is the fragmentation of the science fiction and fantasy community. To personally participate in all of the different forums and subtly let people know about Battleframe is next to impossible. I would say that my hourly rate would be somewhere in the vicinity of about two cents.

To make matters “worse” my own business, ParkLogic, is going through a boom time. The result has been that I’ve backed off the majority of my marketing efforts….there’s only just so much time in the day.

My primary focus is now on completing book two. Mild spoiler alert!!! For those of you that have read Battleframe I would like say that Selfia and Acheron finally get their honeymoon. Out of all of the questions that I get asked, this is the one that I get asked the most. I read the chapter to my wife and daughter and they love it as the honeymoon is in a very unusual location. LOL! I must admit that it never occurred to me that readers would get disappointed that the two characters hadn’t had their honeymoon as yet.

I put a lot of time into writing across this last weekend and I’m about halfway through the biggest space battle scene that I think I’ve ever read….let alone write. There are thousands of ships, bases, satellites and a desperate struggle…..and this will be in the first few chapters of book two! As a hint….the battle ties in to the prelude of book one…..

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” an astonished Bosk exclaimed. “You said what to whom?” Bosk’s short greying hair stood on end and seem to take on a life of its own as he heard his best friends plan.

Whizzbang took in his friend’s reaction as he calmly chomped into a piece of fruit that looked vaguely like an apple but tasted like a banana. After years of growing up together he knew better than to interrupt Bosk as he absorbed the ramifications of the plan. Whizzbang was wearing his Raven recon battleframe and availed himself of a plasteel seat that was designed to take the weight of both pilot and frame.

“That is the dumbest, stupidest plan I’ve ever heard! Whizz, have you finally lost it? Have the nano-meds finally screwed with your brain?” Bosk was really getting worked up now.

Whizzbang glanced out the window of Bosk’s personal quarters overlooking Concord Central Command. Since the destruction of the Scourge base on the far side of Alpha Three the Earthmen had been given quarters within the superstructure of the half-built starship that now formed the core of Central. Taking another bite out of the banapple, as he now called it, Whizzbang reflected on what had transpired over the last couple of weeks while Bosk remonstrated opposite.

They’d all come a long way. Since being transported via an interstellar transwarp, the six Earthmen had managed to free the planet by destroying the Scourge main base on the other side of the planet. In the process, they’d discovered that the blending of their genetic code and the miniature nano-med micro-machines had provided them with some astounding new psionic and physical capabilities. Telepathy, mental scanning and a way to invade and take over another entity's mind were only what they’d discovered so far. Whizzbang let out a deep sigh as he remembered his friend DG’s death at the hands of General Grendig. It was a loss he would bear the rest of his life.

Major Ruscov pushed back his chair as he stood to his feet behind his console in the Concord command center. “General Bardon,” he called over the noise of the officers giving orders to squads all over Alpha Three.

General Bardon’s head snapped up from a report that had just been handed to him from an aid. His neatly trimmed moustache seemed to quiver to attention at the major’s voice. Since the victory over the Scourge on the other side of the planet and the vanquishing of the Barrier the Concord morale couldn’t have been higher. They knew they had two weeks and Major Ruscov had the most important job on all of Alpha Three.

“Report Major.”

“They’re here.”

Without a second thought to the aid at his side or the report he was reading General Bardon nodded his head in acknowledgement and strode off towards the command conference room. A sudden silence descended across the command centre as every officer dropped what they were doing and watched the general enter the “think tank”. They knew their jobs and the critical situation they were all in.

In one motion General Bardon closed the door behind him and pulled out a high backed black leather chair to sit at the large boardroom table. “They’re here”, he said.

General Alban’s pony tail swung as she pinned Bardon with her gaze. “Ruscov’s confirmed it?”

“There was no need. They’re here.”

General Frank MacLeod, his normally impeccably neat silver mustache was now matched by a five o’clock shadow. He’d been sleeping in his clothes again and didn’t have time to get cleaned up after a quick nap earlier in the day. There was just too much to do. Although exhausted, his eyes were like those of an eagle, not missing a thing. “Thoughts generals?”

General Bardon said, “We’re as prepared as we’ll ever be on the ground. All battleframes have been repaired, all settlements have been augmented with any mounted cannons we have. It helped that we could strip the Scourge base of a few larger weapons.”

“Do we know the composition of the Scourge fleet?” Aldan asked.

“I came straight in here but Ruscov will put it up on the monitor in a minute.”

Just as General Bardon uttered the words the main screen at the end of the table came to life. Displayed in a classic V-formation were the three massive Scourge troop carriers that the now deceased General Grendig had revealed to Whizzbang and his squad of Earthmen. What was a surprise was the battleship leading the fleet and the two destroyer class ships bringing up the rear.

“We’ve got three really serious problems,” Alban stated flatly.

Franky ran his hands through his grey hair as he leant back in his chair. His face a mask of concentration. “That’s a frapping understatement and they’re arriving in just under two hours.”